Boardwalk Summer by Kimberly Fisk

Author:Kimberly Fisk
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2017-05-24T13:29:37+00:00

* * *

TOO beautiful.

Hope felt herself reeling from Nick’s unexpected compliment. She’d never been beautiful, let alone too beautiful. But to hear him say it, to see the look on his face as he said it, as if he believed it wholeheartedly. Truth was, she wondered if she was so stunned because it had been so close to her own thoughts about him.

She cast another furtive glance his way. While many other things could be said about Nick, there was one undeniable truth: He was the most handsome man she’d ever seen. Hot, as Dana had so correctly said. It didn’t matter if he was in Levi’s and a T-shirt, in his racing gear, or dressed more formally as he was tonight in a black suit and a crisp white shirt that only seemed to emphasize his tanned skin and black hair.

Though she wouldn’t have believed it initially, Hope was actually thankful Dana had thought to pack her black dress.

After hanging up the phone, it had taken Hope less than five minutes to decide to wear the dress. Dana had been right—you could catch more flies with sugar than you could with vinegar—or however that old adage went. And Hope knew she’d need every advantage she could get tonight, because Dana had been right about another point too: She and Nick needed to talk.

Their lives could never mesh. What type of dad did he think he would be? Certainly not one who would be around. Thanks to the Internet, she’d done a little research of her own this last week, and what she’d learned had only confirmed her suspicions. The NASCAR circuit didn’t allow for personal time. And Hope knew firsthand how devastating it was to be the child of a parent who couldn’t—or wouldn’t—make time for you. To love a parent so much that you started blaming yourself when they never had time for you. She was determined not to let that happen to her children.

At the thought of Susan and Joshua, guilt settled like a boulder in her stomach. She shouldn’t be here, dressed up and going out to dinner when her son was sick and thousands of miles away. She should tell Nick to turn the car around—to head back to the hotel. They could talk in the lobby or on a park bench. Or—

“Don’t.”

She shifted on the smooth leather seat until she faced him. “Don’t what?”

“Feel guilty. You need to eat.”

Surprise hit her. “How did you know what I was thinking?”

Nick pulled alongside the curb and parked. “You forget I know you. And besides, we’re here.”

Hope glanced out the window and drew in a sharp breath. She knew this place, or, more accurately, knew of it.

La Petite Grenouille was an exclusive, highly renowned French restaurant that catered to the elite. Located in the beautifully maintained historic district, the restaurant had been written and raved about more than Minnesota’s beloved baseball team.

As teenagers Hope and her friends had joked when it came time to plan where they were going out to dinner before a big high school dance.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.